


look for a star-sent sign that you'll be alright

by reas_of_sunshine



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: (sorta?), Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bittersweet, Cultural References, Day of the Dead, Gen, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-01-28 17:16:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12611488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reas_of_sunshine/pseuds/reas_of_sunshine
Summary: A lot of history is hidden in the gardens of Butterfly Castle.





	look for a star-sent sign that you'll be alright

**Author's Note:**

> i know in one of my previous fics i called moon's mother flora just ignore that because canon calls her comet so
> 
> anyway this fic was supposed to be done on dia de los muetros but alas life came up along w procrastination and whatnot. but i managed to finish it so ///shrugs

Star wasn’t sure if she was doing this right. She didn’t catch all of the details the other day when Marco explained it, but she was pretty sure she had all of the basics. Some food, a picture, some stuff that symbolized the person…

...yeah.

A tiny smile made it’s way across her face when she looked at her hard work.

It wasn’t fancy nor was it bland. Just enough.

She knelt on the ground, looking at the small marble pillar and simply staring for a couple of seconds. Then, in spite of her surroundings, she couldn’t help but slightly laugh.

“I should’ve known my mom was talking about the afterlife,” Star spoke up. “A grandma farm sounds kinda weird, now that I really think about it. A-anyway, hi, Grandma Comet. My name’s Star, and I’m your granddaughter.”

Star wondered if the sudden chill was due to the far end of the garden being shady with willow trees or … something else. She had dealt with weirder things, after all. And ‘something else’ didn’t seem so weird compared to everything else she had seen lately.

She didn’t want another headache, so she put the thoughts of all _that_ in the back of her mind.

“I don’t have much to say, I guess,” Star went on. “I just wanted to say hi. Let you know I’m here and I’m okay― we’re all okay. I hope you’re doing okay up there. At least I’m gonna take a wild guess and say you’re up there. Tom would have told me if you went downstairs. I think,”

She trailed off.

She really should have written something down, like on a note card. Or her arm.

A deep sigh escaped Star, and she got up, legs shaking and hands twitchy.

“Okay,” she mumbled. “Bye. I guess,”

However, Star felt something― someone take one of her twitchy hands. The grip was gentle and soft, but it felt like it was there and somewhere else at the same time. But what really bewildered Star that someone was holding her hand.

That wasn’t right.

She was the only one here.

At least, that was what she assumed until her gaze drifted upwards and she saw a familiar stranger.

First, she saw cerulean hair tied in a tight updo, a heart-shaped updo. Warm, kind lavender eyes flickering open. A sweet, almost impish smile. It was a person. A woman. Star knew the face, she recognized it, she knew who it was, and she realized that the face was a little paler than it should have been. It should have been more tan than pale.

And two blue butterflies were on that pale face, one on each cheek.

A mouth moved but nothing came out. The figure before Star still smiled—

—meanwhile Star _screamed_.

“Mom!” she shrieked, suddenly bolting back towards the Castle as fast as her legs could take her.

She didn’t look back, she didn’t even think, she just ran.

“Mom! Mom, Mom, oh my gosh, Mom, get out here!”

Star found herself running directly into the door, letting out a slight grunt as she stumbled back, but otherwise, she didn’t skip a beat. She swung the door open, realizing she didn’t have to go far.

“Star?!” Moon said, catching her breath. “I heard you yelling. What is it?”

“I— I saw— C’mon!” Star grabbed her mother’s arm, yanking back towards the farthest end of the Castle Gardens.

But where there had once been something, someone, there was now nothing. Star gasped, shaking her head rapidly. Moon stood still, eyeing her daughter carefully. The Princess let go of her mother, beginning to pace quickly, back and forth.

“I saw her, I saw her,” she mumbled.

“Saw what?” Moon asked, arching an eyebrow. “A warnicorn with wings?”

“No!” Star blurted out. “I saw your mom! Grandma Comet!”

Suddenly, all the life seemed to be sucked out of the Queen. Her face somehow became paler than usual, and she frowned heavily. Star noticed her mother’s sudden change in demeanor and stopped her pacing. Yet she still fidgeted, her hands wringing one over the other.

“I― I was in here and,”

How could she explain it?

“You were seeing things, Star,” Moon finally spoke, her voice low and hollow. “It’s okay. You have a sense of longing because you never met her, and what with your active imagination—”

“No, I know what I saw, Mom!” Star interjected. “And it was Grandma!”

“No, it wasn’t!” Moon snapped, grabbing her daughter by the shoulders and crouching down slightly so their gazes could met. “My mother is gone, Star! She’s been dead for over twenty years and I miss her everyday! I wish I could tell her I’m sorry! I— I would give anything to see her again, to tell her I love her but _I can’t_.”

Star felt her breath hitch for a moment when she noticed tears in her mother’s eyes and she hesitated.

“Mom…”

“Please, Star, just stop,” Moon urged.

“Did she wear a white dress the day she, y’know?” Star mumbled. “And some armor?”

Moon’s grip on her daughter tightened slightly, and she felt her mouth go dry. “Yes,” she mumbled.

Star waited a moment before she gave a small nod. “Yeah. I definitely saw Grandma,” she said, her voice firm and sincere like… like the Queen she was going to be someday. “I was doing this thing Marco taught me, some people on Earth do it to show their dead loved ones that they still care, a-and I just saw her.”

“You—” Moon paused, her chin trembling and a single tear streaking down her diamond emblem. “What?”

“She looked… kinda happy,” Star went on. “Mom?”

Moon couldn’t say anything. Her hands fell, swinging at her sides, and she slowly stood up properly, staring at the small pile of objects laid in front of her mother’s memorial.

“Mom, what would you say sorry for?” Star spoke up.

“I wasn’t very pleasant to my mother the day she passed. We had a fight,” Moon said coldly. “I regret it.”

A soft murmur escaped Star, and she felt her eyes watering. “I wish you could have seen her,” she muttered. “You deserve to. You miss her.”

Moon sniffled slightly, trying to not let her strong facade break. “This Earth tradition, is it magical?”

“I don’t think so,” Star said. “But you can put something on the pile if you want.”

The pile had plenty of corn on the bottom, a loaf of bread and the Butterfly family royal flag gently folded in front of the memorial. In the ground, a golden sword was stabbed into the dirt— the sword bearing the late queen’s namesake as a jewel centerpiece, sapphires and diamonds forming a shining comet. And right in front of the sword, the old photograph of a young Moon in Queen Comet’s lap.

Moon felt her eyes go misty once again and she bit her lip, hands trembling.

“I don’t have anything for her,” she mumbled. “I… I wouldn’t know what to do.”

“It’s okay,” Star assured. “You can just— stand here. She probably knows you’re here.”

With the grave’s inscription, ‘ _here lies Comet Aurora Butterfly: queen, sister & mother_’ glimmering in the sunset, Moon couldn’t stop the tears continuing to flow. And she didn’t even hesitate or flinch when Star flung herself forward, wrapping her mother in a tight hug.

“Grandma was probably happy because she knows you’re doing great,” Star murmured.

“Wouldn’t that be lovely,” Moon sniffled. “You know, you’re an awful lot like your grandmother.”

Star paused, glancing up at her mother. “I am?” she whispered.

Moon nodded. “You got her smile,” she said, with an almost rueful laugh. “And your incredibly kind nature, that comes from her. That’s why she was known as Comet the Gracious.”

A moment of silence passed, mother and daughter teary-eyed and embraced.

“That’s what the, uh, the Earth thing I was doing is all about. Remembering people we lost,” Star spoke up. “It’s called Day of the Dead. Marco went to Earth for a little while to celebrate, and he explained it to me, I just… I was thinking about it. No one ever comes to visit Grandma. She might get lonely. We have magic here on Mewni, so I mean, are spirits really so weird?”

“I, I suppose not,” Moon sighed.

What the Queen didn’t realize as she spoke was that she absentmindedly clutched her daughter a little tighter— and Star held on too.

They held onto each other for support. For now, and for the future, for whatever it held.

**Author's Note:**

> comments are always appreciated! c:
> 
> ~rea


End file.
